The Rainmaker Named Sue: David Sands at TEDxBozeman

Bacteria (we name them Sue, short for Pseudomonas) live on plant leaves  but seem to have another life as well, they launch into the atmosphere where they have the rare ability to cause ice to form in the clouds, and sometimes snow and rain. We proposed this bioprecipitation cycle hypothesis 30 years ago, and now it is getting some traction.

David Sands, a plant pathologist, has worked for over forty years specifically on research projects involving these weird, enigmatic bacteria as they relate to crop diseases, as biocontrol agents of noxious weeds, and their aerial acrobatics in the clouds. He is at Montana State University where his research group has reported numerous findings on The Bug (the bioprecipitation hypothesis) and its humanitarian applications. Sands' group has also developed new/ancient gluten-free food crops such as Timtana, Proatina, Montina, and Camelina, each developed to aid people who cannot eat wheat. He also has a project developing a fungus to kill witchweed, the devastating parasitic weed that prevents food production in many African countries. At any given moment, Sands can be found thinking about bacteria, writing poetry, collecting art or playing tennis -- sometimes simultaneously.

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